Low cost India opens up opportunity for Nissan

Identifying India as one among the five low cost nations, auto giant Nissan will roll out a slew of new generation compact cars from the country.  A financial daily has reported that the Japanese auto major might also include its new generation Micra in its India plans. Nissan is expected to compete in the entry-car market with a dedicated new ‘A’ platform that will be used for at least three models, including the next generation of Micra. They are expected to be built in five leading competitive countries, the daily said in its report.

With the Renault-Nissan alliance in place, India being zeroed in as the manufacturing base for its compact cars might come easy for the Japanese auto giant. Nissan and Renault had earlier this year announced that they would invest Rs 4,000 crore in setting up a plant in Chennai to roll out 400,000 vehicles a year under both the brand names after Indian partner Mahindra & Mahindra pulled out of a tripartite joint venture initially planned. Nissan is believed to have identified the production sites for the new family of compact cars and they include the new plant in Chennai.

Though there are talks that the Micra would be rolled out of the India facility, Nissan has said that it has not yet finalised on which vehicle would be manufactured in India. Nissan has three models planned on the new platform A. News sources say that the development of a competitive A platform is one of several business breakthroughs announced as part of Nissan GT 2012, the company’s new five-year business plan.

Apart from India, the UK too is in the Nissan scheme of things. An all-new compact car is likely to be made at its Sunderland plant in Britain. The company aleady has a range of cars that are manufactured in that country.